Baby
by Queenbeth2
Summary: Ten years later Edward finds Bella on his porch dying with a baby. Left with the child of the man he hated, Edward begins to learn that he can experience joy after pain and the remaining Cullens find they can piece their lives back together. Please read!
1. Chapter 1

DC: I don't own it

Summary: Edward's life is in shreds. His family is broken and Bella has left him. On a rainy night he finds a baby on the doorstep. Bella's baby. Carlisle makes him take care of the infant and he finds that the little baby has the power to bring everything back into place.

Chapter 1,

Bella sat in the rocker and looked out of the window at the rain. She still had so much she had left to do but she was so tired. When she heard her baby crying she closed her eyes and sighed. She started to get up when she heard the cries soften and then finally fade. She smiled thankfully and giggled when she heard protests from the other room.

"There is no way someone so small can make all that!" Jacob cried.

Bella shook her head with a smile. He was helpless sometimes but at least he tried. She looked around the room. Half of the clothes and toys were in boxes. Stuff that Bella had left here when she moved out was either packed away or sold off. It was too soon but it had to be done. Jacob walked in with the baby and put her in her crib. Bella glanced up but didn't really pay much attention to him until she felt his hot hands on her shoulders and his lips on her head.

"Come to bed," he whispered, "you're exhausted."

"I still have so much left to pack," she moaned, "I don't have time to sleep!"

"You can't afford not to sleep," Jacob said.

Bella sighed in defeat and tilted her head back. "Why is it I keep choosing men that don't agree with me?"

"Who knows," Jacob shrugged. "Bells please, you've had a long couple weeks and..."

"I have to get everything ready for the burial tomorrow..."

"Bella..."

"Everyone will be meeting at the lodge for drinks after so I don't have to cook anything..."

"Isabella Marie Black go to bed."

"Did you just order me to bed?!" Bella cried. "And use my full name?!"

"Yes," Jacob said with an impish grin, "now go to bed." Bella sighed and was about to leave when her baby started to cry. "Go, I can handle her."

Bella groaned and shuffled past the guest room where she and Jacob had been staying and into Charlie's room. This was the last room they had to pack up. It was for the most part unchanged. She hugged her arms and sat on the edge of his bed. It felt like it was so long ago when she got the call. The call had come from the hospital and it only made it harder that it had been Carlisle telling her. Your father had been in an accident and you need to come to the hospital. They left Seattle that night and arrived a few hours later. A few days later Carlisle said that Charlie hadn't survived.

During the next few days Bella learned the details of the accident. Charlie had been called to stop a robbery. He had been shot a few times, as had his partner. Bella still met the young man who would apologize over and over again.

Pictures of her lined the dresser. Most of them were of her and Jake. It wasn't much of a secret that Charlie was happen when she and Edward split, but he did feel bad for her broken heart. When she told him that she was dating Jacob he was overjoyed and when she said that she was pregnant Charlie nearly went through the roof, especially when that news was followed by "we're engaged"

So there were photographs on the dresser of Bella and Jake at Christmas, at their engagement party and in the hospital when the baby was born. Bella felt her tears when she saw a picture of Charlie with his arm around her and his new granddaughter in his arms. She felt old.

"I thought I told you to go to bed," Jacob sighed, walking in and sitting next to her.

"I know," she sighed resting her head on his shoulder, "I just really miss him."

Jacob pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. "He loved you more than anything, Bells, and you made him so happy."

She knew he was right. She walked with him into the bedroom where they changed into their pajamas and went to sleep. Bella laid awake, listening to Jacob's soft snores and looked out the window. Ten years. Had it really been that long? After everything that happened it was no wonder that her relationship with Edward fell apart. She wondered how the Cullens, or what was left of them, were holding up. From what Charlie had said Esme was away visiting relatives and Alice went with her.

She stood up and walked into her old room. She reached into the cradle and gently picked up her daughter without waking her. She sat in the rocker and rocked slowly. When she closed her eyes she could see it, the beginning of the end. The painfully beautiful woman with the deep red eyes and her army walking gracefully into the clearing by the Cullen house. She had been sitting with Edward at the time, secure in his arms. Alice was on the defense and Emmett was sitting on the steps with his arms around Roselie.

Days later Sam and Jacob came, claiming that the treaty had been broken and not only was someone killed but it was one of their own. Leah had been killed before she had time to react. Carlisle argued that it was not any member of his family and therefore they were not in violation of the treaty and though he felt for them, he could not be held responsible.

It all ended after that. The wolves attacked and seeing the point of weakness, the vampires did too. The Cullens were fighting a double front war and Forks was unaware. Bella begged Jacob to stop but when Sam was killed all hope was lost. The woman from before, with the platinum blonde hair and red eyes, found Bella and planned to kill her.

Bella fought the tears in her eyes. She remembered Roselie's reaction. She screamed out and as the vampire, named Asia, launched forward, Roselie blocked the attack. After a brutal fight Bella saw Roselie die. Her beautiful body torn apart and burned. Emmett's tortured cry of agony rang in her ears even now.

Bella didn't know when she had moved but when she opened her eyes she was curled into the corner of her old room hugging her baby tight against her chest and crying into the blanket. She felt warm arms guide her into a hot body.

"Bella, honey, please don't cry anymore."

She felt Jacob put their baby back to sleep and then he picked her up and carried her to bed. He held her against him and stroked her hair while she cried. Finally she was calm and she sighed against his chest.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

"You smell nice," she sighed. Jacob chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

"It's Eau de haven't showed in two days," he said, "with a hint of baby vomit."

"Mm you smell like a daddy."

"Bells, I've been thinking..."

"Never good," Bella teased. He poked her side playfully.

"Maybe we can have another baby."

"Not yet," Bella sighed sitting up, "Jake I can't handle it yet."

"Alright," he said, sounding a little down. Bella kissed his forehead.

"We have years to have another. Maybe we'll have a boy."

"I would like that very much," Jacob said with a grin, "I don't think I could handle another you."

Bella laughed and sank into his arms. "When can we go home?"

"Tomorrow night at the earliest. Why?"

"This place makes me sad," she said quietly, "too many memories. Whenever I go into my old room I remember Edward coming in through the window and singing me to sleep. I remember Charlie coming to check on me and other small things. Jake I can't believe he's actually gone!"

Jacob let her cry into his chest until she fell asleep. He kissed her forehead and followed her into an uneasy slumber.

--

Edward didn't know why he was there at the cemetery. Almost the entire town had shown up to give a final farewell to their beloved police chief. People were paying their respects to Bella. He hadn't seen her since she left. The change was unbelievable. Ten years had been kind to her but they showed on her face. She had laugh lines on the corners of her mouth and everything about her looked older. Her hair was tied back at the base of her neck and she wore all black. She was plumper than he remembered her to be.

Jacob stood beside her with his arm secure around her shoulders. She turned into him when the tears came. Her hand left the stroller and balled around his shirt.

"It's okay," Jacob whispered.

_We have to get out of here, this place is breaking her heart,_ Jacob thought. Edward closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Carlisle walked up to Bella and gave her a gentle hug and she seemed happy to see him. Her face broke into the first smile of the day. He overheard everything they said. Bella asked about how everyone was and if he was okay. That was all Edward could stand. He turned and drove home.

--

Bella was aware of three things above everything else. One, she was no longer in the car. Two, her baby was screaming at the top of her little lungs and three, she was going to die. She could smell gas and smoke. Neither promised anything good. She turned her head slowly. Someone from the other car was hanging out of the window nearly completely severed.

"Jake..." she screamed. Her voice was muffled, like it was being smothered by a pillow. With difficulty she rolled onto her stomach and pushed up to her knees. She tried to call to her daughter but she didn't have a voice. She saw Jake in the flipped car. There was a long shard of metal sticking out of his throat. Her eyes exploded with tears and she fell to the ground again. "No," she rasped, "Jake! Jake say something!"

She laid on the cold wet ground. Sleep would be so much easier. Her body was so weak. Her stomach was on fire and when she looked down she saw gashes. They were deep. She felt the warm blood on her hands.

The sounds of her crying baby snapped her out of it. She struggled to stand and she followed the cries to the side of the road where her baby laid on a bed of thick moss. She took her into her arms and continued into the woods. They were close to the big white mansion she had once called home. If she could make it...maybe...

What other choice did she have? She was going to die in a matter of minutes and Jacob was already gone. Would Edward forgive her enough to take her baby? She could count on Carlisle's compassion but would his family out vote him? She was sure that after all the damage she had done...would they forgive her?

It wasn't about forgiveness, she told herself as she stumbled through the wet ferns. At least the doctor would have enough compassion in his heart to care for her innocent baby, even if it was hers. Could Edward look past who the baby's father was? She didn't have time to dwell.

A light was on. She stumbled onto the porch and fell against the door. She pounded on it. They were vampires with super hearing, surely they would hear it. Her vision was blurring and her head was spinning so fast. The seconds passed like hours. She sank to the ground and curled around her baby, sheltering her with her warmth.

The door opened and she saw Edward.

"Carlisle!" He called.

"Please..." Bella cried in her thick muffled voice, "forgive me...take her..."

She pushed her baby towards him, praying with everything she had that he would accept the child into his arms. Edward took the baby into one arm and touched her face with his hand.

"Bella..."

Bella smiled weakly. Then her eyes drifted closed and she gave in to the pull of eternal sleep.

"Bella! Bella open your eyes!"

"She's gone Edward," Carlisle said, checking for a pulse even though he couldn't hear her heart.

Edward turned away from her. He couldn't see her like that, with blood pouring from her stomach and her heart dead.

"Her baby?" Carlisle asked.

Edward looked down at the tan infant in his arms. He stood. She had to get into dry clothes. Looking at Bella and being so close to her blood was painful. He walked up the stairs and swaddled the baby in an old t-shirt.

Hours later Carlisle came up. Edward was still holding the baby against his chest like he had been.

"What are you going to do?"

"What can I do?" Edward asked. He put the baby on his massive bed and covered her with the quilt before leaving. He returned with several boxes of the baby's clothes and her crib. He dressed her and put her in her bed.

"You'll keep her then?" Carlisle asked.

"Yes," Edward said. He reached down and brushed his thumb over the tired girl's cheek. "Isabella," he whispered, "Isabella Rose."

"Beautiful," Carlisle said softly. He patted Edward's shoulder and kissed him on the side of his head. "Everything will be fine."

"I suppose it will," Edward said softly, not taking his eyes off of the sleeping baby.

TBC

Well like it or hate it? Review! I want to hear what you think. Enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

DC: I don't own it.

Thanks to my reviewers!

I had some questions about it so I want to clarify. This will not be one of those stories where Edward raises her and then falls in romantic love with her. His love for her will be strictly platonic.

Chapter 2,

Edward didn't want to think that he was feeling a sort of buyers remorse (especially since he didn't buy anything) but that was definitely what he was feeling when he looked into the crib the next morning and the full weight of the decision started to settle in. He had taken in the daughter of Jacob Black. The stupid werewolf that stole his Bella.

Never mind that it had been he, Edward, that pushed Bella away after his family was attacked but that wasn't the point at the moment. The point was that he was now responsible for a baby he wasn't even sure he wanted. He had been overcome by emotion. Seeing Bella like that was more than enough to make him agree to anything she had requested with her last breath. He probably would have stabbed Carlisle if she asked him in that breathy voice and her eyes so full of desperation.

What did he know about raising children anyway? Let alone a human child who actually needed to eat, sleep and worst of all she could (and eventually would) bleed. Edward Cullen was in a fix. He chewed on his fingernails. A bad habit he had picked up in the past ten years when he intensely thought about mistakes. But what could he do? When he was human the problem would have been solved by shipping the baby off to an orphanage or putting it in a basket on the river and hoping for the best. But he couldn't do this to Bella's baby.

Could he? Edward looked over his shoulder as if Carlisle was standing right there. It didn't matter. As if his father could read his thoughts, Carlisle's voice floated up the stairs.

"Don't even think about it."

Edward winced. How did he always know when he was planning something?! Sometimes Edward wondered if Carlisle could secretly read minds. It wouldn't be terribly unbelievable and it would explain why he and his siblings could never get away with anything. He heard the soft thoughts of the baby. An infants mind was so simple. She couldn't think in complete sentences. Her thoughts were scattered and consisted mostly of shapes and colors.

How old was she anyway? Carlisle mentioned something about it a while ago but he wasn't really listening. Judging by her size she had to be almost a toddler. Edward jumped as he saw that she was standing and looking at him from her crib. That was weird. She was looking, and quite intently, at him with very dark eyes. Edward looked back. She didn't seem to blink. She was just watching him.

_It's like she knows what I'm thinking_

Edward ended up blowing a puff of air at her and making her blink. She was freaking him out. The baby girl rubbed her eyes and fell back on her little bottom. She didn't like that much and to tell him so she started to cry. Edward jumped up and picked her up, holding her away from his body as if she was a bomb.

"Carlisle! What do I do! The baby is crying!"

"Figure it out mind-reader!"

_Mommy! Scary! Mommy! Daddy!_

Edward frowned. He wasn't scary. Was he? Physically anyway.

_Geez Edward use your head_ Carlisle's thoughts came from his room. Edward glared towards the door. He looked back at Isabella and put her back in the crib and for the first time he did something he thought he would never ever do.

He ran out of the sliding glass door to his balcony and jumped off, breaking into a run the moment his feet hit the ground.

--

He wound up at the eerily empty Swan house. He went in through Bella's window as he was used to and the change was a shock to him. When he had been getting the stuff for the baby he didn't pay attention to it, but now that he had time to look...it was strange. The bedroom no longer belonged to a teenager. He went into the guest room where Bella had slept. Her scent still filled the room and it mixed with the scent of the werewolf. He found an album on the dresser. Bella must have been filling it because there was a box of pictures next to it.

Edward took the box and sat on the bed. There were old pictures of them together. He found one taken a few days before the vampires attacked and held it against a recent one of her holding her daughter. The change was obvious. Bella had grown up and become a mother. Even Jacob looked different. Fatherhood shaped him into a responsible looking man.

He tossed the album aside. It was just as he feared. Bella really did love him. It wasn't a pregnant marriage.

"Did you really expect her to stay?" he asked himself. He smiled an ironic smile as he saw a picture of him and Bella. It was crumpled but looked like it had been smoothed again.

He remembered the day it all ended. It had been a sunny day and he had spent the entire night convincing Emmett that there were reasons to go on.

"You don't understand Edward!" Emmett cried, pushing him away. "My Rosie is dead! DEAD! She isn't coming back!"

"Emmett..."

"Just do me a favor and stop pretending that you know fucking everything Edward because you don't! You left Bella by choice once! But you still have her! I will never see Rosie again and you need me to give me the damned space I need to deal with that!"

"Fine!" Edward snapped. "You aren't the only one that is hurting!"

"Tell you what Edward, you lose your wife, the only woman you have ever loved, and then we'll talk but until then get the hell out of my face because I am tired of looking at you!" Emmett snarled. Edward moved as he went to push him again. He turned angrily and stormed out of the room. Bella was there, coming out of his room.

"Edward," she said softly.

"So you think I'm overreacting too?" he snapped.

"I didn't say that," Bella said in the same soft voice. "I just think that..."

"I don't want to hear it!" Edward snapped angrily. "I don't care!" Bella came towards him. She reached out to take his hand and he pulled away from her. "Just leave me alone!"

She did. She left the house and he left to find himself. When he came back she had left with Jacob. Two years had passed slowly and she had moved on.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, jerking him from his memories. He picked it up and found a text message from Carlisle.

Very mature Edward. Get back here.

No

Edward Anthony Cullen get back here now

Or what

Edward didn't wait to see the answer. He didn't want to take care of a baby, let alone Jacob Black's baby. He curled up on the bed and buried his face in Bella's pillow. He had been so emotional...so broken up over everything that had happened. He took it out on her and lost her because of it. He had no idea how much she blamed herself until years later. He didn't fully grasp it until he heard Bella sobbing apologies to Carlisle when she came back when Charlie died. He pulled the blanket up over his head and when the phone buzzed again he crunched it in his hand.

--

Carlisle was feeding the baby when Edward came home. "Welcome back," he grumbled.

"I needed to get away."

"You needed to run away," Carlisle corrected. "There is a difference."

"Are you going to lecture me now?" Edward asked moodily as he sat.

"No," Carlisle said, not looking up from Isabella, "you'd like that too much. I'm going to let this sink in on its own and hope that you realize what a brat you're being."

"I'm not being a brat!"

"Wake up Edward," Carlisle said sharply. "Bella is dead and she came to you because she thought maybe you could forgive her enough to take care of her baby."

"Jacob's baby..."

"Jealousy is a horrible habit," Carlisle sighed. "You can't stay mad at her for the rest of your life."

"Watch me!" Edward snapped, resting his chin on his palm and watching the rain.

"She couldn't forgive herself for everything that happened," Carlisle said, "did you know that? The day you told her that you didn't care what she was going to say she ran and you didn't go after her. Then you left. You left her and what did you expect her to think? That everything was fine?"

"None of us went after her," Emmett said quietly from the stairs. Both of them looked over at him. "She thought we were all mad at her."

"Hey Em," Carlisle said gently, "how are you feeling?"

"So this is her baby huh?" Emmett asked, walking down the stairs and sitting next to Carlisle. Isabella was passed into his arms and he looked at her softly. "Well isn't she a little cutie? She has her eyes."

"That's what I thought," Carlisle said with a small smile.

"What is her name?"

"Isabella Rose," Carlisle said.

"Bella Rose," Emmett said softly, "it's pretty."

"Mama?" Bella asked.

"Tell you what Edward," Emmett said standing and putting the baby in his brother's arms, "try growing a pair and find five reasons why you shouldn't be her new father. If you can then you can give her away."

Edward rolled his eyes and his brother walked away with his father. They went out hunting. Edward looked at the baby. She looked up at him with scared eyes.

_Where is my mommy? You aren't my daddy!_

"Reason one, you are Jacob's baby."

_Why hasn't mommy come to me yet?_

"Reason two, I am a vampire and you are a human."

_Why didn't mommy come when I cried? Is she mad at me?_

"Reason three..." Edward trailed off. Isabella was starting to cry. Her dark eyes were filling with tears and her thoughts were painful for him to hear.

_Mommy please come!_

Edward held her close against his chest. "I'm sorry," he whispered, "Bella I'm sorry."

_Mommy! Mommy! I'm scared mommy!_

"I know you're scared," Edward whispered against her thick black hair, "I'm sorry, okay. I should have never yelled at her. I should have gone after her instead of going after myself. I let this happen!"

_MOMMY! MOMMY WHERE ARE YOU?!_

The child's voice was getting more and more frantic in her head. Edward was starting to feel a similar panic. He couldn't do this. He couldn't be a father and yet he wanted to make her stop crying and feel the comfort he was unable to give. He smoothed her hair and kissed her forehead.

"Please stop crying," he whispered.

She would forget about her parents soon. Edward knew that from psychology classes. She would forget about Bella and Jacob and assume that whoever is caring for her is her father.

_I'm hungry! Where is mommy?_

Edward stood and grabbed the bottle that Carlisle had abandoned. Holding her in one arm he touched the rubber nipple to her lips and she began to suck on it. She watched him with her intense eyes, hardly blinking.

"I am in over my head," Edward declared.

Isabella smiled with the rubble nipple stuck in her gums.

"So you understood that huh?" he asked her.

Isabella reached up and grabbed at his face. Edward chuckled as her little fingers tried to grab his nose. He distracted them with his finger.

_Yummy_

"What?!"

Edward didn't have time to wonder what she meant when she kicked her bottle away and replaced it with his finger. He started gnawing on it.

"No, none of that," Edward said, taking his finger out of her mouth.

_I want that!_

She said her thoughts with a whine. Edward sighed. He held her secure in one arm and grabbed a coat. He wrapped her up in it and ran faster than a bullet to the old house. He grabbed some boxes and came back with them. It was times like this when he loved being super strong and fast. Finally he found what he was looking for on this third trip hiding in Charlie's room. A baby book.

When they got back home Edward put her in the plastic swing and turned the knob. It rocked slowly and Isabella giggled and batted at the mirrored toys at the top. While she did that Edward flipped through the baby book.

Her birth name was Sarah (after Jacob's mother) and she was a year and half. Her birthday was June seventeenth and Bella had her via c-section. In the back there was a file full of papers. Edward shuffled through them. They were doctors reports. From reading them Edward learned about the three miscarriages she had before she finally held on. There were pictures from the ultrasound and on the bill from the birth and hospital stay Bella drew a little heart.

_I'm getting sick...when he is going to take me out of this stupid thing?_

Edward reached over and took her out of the swing. Being able to read minds was certainly going to make this job much easier. She rested her head on his shoulder and he patted her back and rubbed small circles.

_Why hasn't mommy come?_

She started to sob. Edward closed his eyes and swayed softly. He wished there was some way that he could make her understand that her parents weren't coming back. He walked around the house, swaying softly as he did so. She sniffed and finally stopped crying as he hummed softly. He had to admit there was something warm and comforting about the way her little weight felt against her shoulder and her impossibly soft hair against his cheek. The kind of soft that only a baby could manage.

He could never have had this with Bella. He would have never been able to give her a child like the wolf could. But he would have wished to. He would imagine how it could have been...coming home to Bella and a baby.

Her thoughts began to slip into dreams. He began to hear her soft snores and sat on the sofa. He laid back and let her sleep on his chest. Her little hand closed around his shirt and she whimpered. Edward closed his eyes and felt his mind wander.

As she shifted a little and whimpered softly Edward realized he had a problem. Not only did he want to keep the little baby, but he was almost certainly being wrapped around her little finger.

TBC

Review please! Enjoy!


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